Season of Mangoes in Amroha

Amroha, my hometown, is known for its production of mangoes. Amroha is one of the largest mango producing districts of western UP. Even the name Amroha is a combination of two words 'Aam' and 'Rohu'. 'Aam' means 'mango' in English and 'Rohu' is a type of fish. Although I cannot differentiate 'Rohu' from other varieties of fishes but now I can recognize many varieties of mangoes. Even I wondered when Amroha is not on a sea coast neither it is on a bank of a river how come this place is known for fishes. Later I learned that the city was having many ponds on its outskirts where people used to catch those fishes. But now many of those ponds are dry and many were filled up for urbanization.

This summer,after years, I got a chance to spend my holidays in Amroha. The city is on a fast track of development. There are better roads, many new colleges and schools, a flyover and many new showrooms. Its the time of the year when the trees all around Amroha are full of mangoes. But no one can dare to enter any of the Mango orchards without permission because they are secured. As soon as u try to touch a fruit someone shouts from a mile away. And not just that ...there are trained dogs who provide security to these orchards. Actually these orchards, full of mangoes, attract everyone including robbers.

Being from Amroha the love for mangoes comes naturally to me. Even my Grandfather owned a mango orchard. But it wasn't of any profit and needed a lot of care so he sold it later. This season I had tasted many different varieties of mangoes. Amroha produce many of the varieties and many other come from nearby villages and districts in our market. One type of mango may differ from others in color, taste, smell, size, price or looks.

So in Amroha its not just about eating this delicious pulpy fruit. But about tasting all of its varieties also called “Qismaat”. Finding different varieties is not easy even in Amroha. There are only six-seven varieties like Bombai, langda, chausa etc. which are popular and produced in huge quantity. Rest of the other varieties's production is very low and most of it is exported, self consumed or gifted to relatives by the orchard owners. Even to buy some of the quantity that comes in the market u have to make an advance request and constant queries with fruit sellers. And also need to recognize what u are being sold because u can be easily fooled by the fruit seller.

But the effort is worth doing for “The King of Fruits”..!!

Read more abt the efforts and experiments, varieties and uses of mangoes in Amroha in the next post.